Going long the heavily-shorted stocks was the gold standard approach to outperformance in 2013. Tesla, Netflix and the like obliterated the short-sellers when momentum stocks were all the rage. The trend, aside from a few blips, has since reversed.

Maria Sharapova posing on a Harley probably doesn’t mean much in terms of market impact, though she (the bike) is nice to look at. What could mean something, however, is the way Harley shares have been behaving lately, and what it could be saying about the finicky consumer (see the chart of the day).

The Federal Reserve policy meeting is upon us, and it’s been a big driver for stocks over the past two decades, so says the Fed itself. Trends have blurred a bit in recent years.

“Since 1994, the S&P500 index has on average increased 49 basis points in the 24 hours before scheduled FOMC announcements,” a New York Fed study revealed. “As a result, about 80% of annual realized excess stock returns since 1994 are accounted for by the pre-FOMC announcement drift.”

The posts are already starting to pile up, so let’s get this out of the way early so we won’t have to mention it again this week. At least in this space. Yes, May is almost here. Which means the “sell in May” mantra will be spewed all over the financial interwebs for the next few days.

Flat performances, wandering “wolves”, bewilderment over 11-digit price tags and a pall of disinterest settling over the whole corrupt show. Art has imitated life — or, more appropriately, sport has imitated Wall Street — in recent weeks. Just look at that smirking bear over there.

About Need to Know

Need to Know (NTK) guides investors to the most important, insightful items required to chart a course ahead of each trading day. Anchored by lead writer Shawn Langlois, NTK will sift through the fire hose of news, commentary and data, from traditional and non-traditional sources, and extract what’s most essential. You can start reading NTK here as it begins publishing at approximately 6:30 a.m. ET, or sign up here to get a version in your email box every morning at approximately 8:45. a.m. ET.